01 May 2009

Here's hoping this is just a drill

North Carolina is one of 29 states that has not stockpiled enough flu treatments to meet the federal government's recommendations, but the state's health director says there's no reason for concern.

State officials have stockpiled about 660,000 courses – enough doses to treat one person – of antiviral medicines. North Carolina's federal allotment is about 1 million, and roughly one-quarter of that was distributed this week in preparation to combat the swine flu outbreak.

Combined, those 1.7 million total courses are enough to treat about 18 percent of the state's population. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends that each state have enough antiviral medicine on hand to treat 25 percent of its population.